7 of the best muscle-building tips from Liam Hemsworth

It takes a lot of confidence for Liam Hemsworth to be doling out workout tips. After all, his brother is literally Thor.

Still, the Independence Day: Resurgence and Hunger Games star is no slouch. His shredded physique has helped him quickly ascend the Hollywood ladder, and the youngest Hemsworth has plenty to offer when it comes to fitness tips. We’ve rounded up the actor’s wisest workout words.

1. Go Outside

Getting in movie star shape doesn’t have to mean spending hours in the gym. In fact, Hemsworth makes it sound like he’s never indoors.

“I’ve been trying to spend as much time outdoors as I can,” he says. “Cycling, playing soccer or basketball, going for two-hour hikes and doing as many push-ups as I can on the way.”

Two-hour hikes may be asking a bit much when you work 9-5 and live in a city, but there are plenty of ways to train outside this summer. You’ll get fit, and it’ll cheer you up too. Exercising outdoors has been proven to help fight stress and improve mental health. We assume that’s as long as it’s not raining.

2. Function over form

When Liam Hemsworth started training for the Hunger Games, he didn’t want to be bulky and slow. So he trained smart rather than for show.

“Liam wanted to be fit, strong and functional,” says PT Luke Zocchi the trainer to all three of the Hemsworth brothers (yes, there is a third one). “When I trained with Liam, we never did any squats or deadlifts – we weren’t doing any real heavy lifting or even isolation work.”

Zocchi famously got Liam’s elder brother Chris Hemsworth bulked up for Avengers: Age of Ultron, and then quickly leaned him back down for In the Heart of the Sea.

With Liam the aims were less extreme. And so were the workouts. “It was more like circuit training with kettlebells or supersets of body-weight exercises,” explains Zocchi.

Can’t afford a personal trainer? Worry not, we’ve gathered the 10 best bodyweight exercises for you. Now there’s no excuse not to work out just because you’re away from the weights on holiday. Or on a work trip. Or in a dystopian battle royale.

3. Eat your greens

If anyone proves you can build muscle without meat it’s Liam Hemsworth. The Aussie actor is a strict vegan.

“I was always the weird kid who enjoyed eating Brussels sprouts,” he says. “Now it’s beans, legumes, lentils, nuts and seeds. And I have a lot of plant-based protein shakes.”

Hemsworth may have chosen to go meat-free for ethical, not fitness, reasons, but that hasn’t stopped him enjoying the health benefits of a duck-less diet. “When I was eating meat I’d feel sluggish after meals and constantly want to lie down and have a nap,” he explains. “Now I feel like my energy levels are much more consistent.”

If the above diet seems too hardcore, don’t worry, it’s not full time.

“I tend to go from one extreme to the other, to be honest,” Hemsworth confesses. “Leading up to a movie I’m usually pretty healthy. But then the few weeks after the shoot I’m mostly eating pizza and French fries and playing Xbox.”

Scientists agree with Hemsworth that planned nutritional lapses are a good thing. A study recently published in the Journal of Consumer Psychology suggested that having occasional cheat days made people more motivated to stick to their diets the rest of the time.

When you’re needed to defend earth from aliens or win the Hunger Games you don’t have a lot of time to spare. That’s why Hemsworth swears by Tabata exercises.

“I really enjoy Tabata. High intensity, timed workouts where you do a bunch of different exercises like burpees, bodyweight squats, pull-ups, push-ups, dips,” he says. “You just cycle through those and see how many reps you can do of each in 20 minutes. Or you try to do 100 of each and see how quickly you can do it.”

Sound tough? It is. But working up a sweat is the only way to seriously jack up your fitness. And a major study from Southern Illinois University also found it was the key to building a lean core. Try our ultimate Tabata workout if you don’t believe us.

Still not buying it? Hemsworth’s Expendables 2 co-star Jason Statham also wants you to trim your training time. And are you really going to argue with him?

6. Do things your way

In the past, Hemsworth has been trained by Luke Zocchi and legendary Hollywood PT Logan Hood. Now he doesn’t have to rely on others.

“I feel like I’ve gained enough knowledge over the years to do my own stuff at my own pace,” he says.

His ‘own stuff’ sometimes includes hikes and sometimes includes sweating it out in noxious old boxing gyms. “When I was shooting the Hunger Games in Atlanta, me and the stunt guys would work out at this gym that we called ‘the Stinky Gym’,” says Hemsworth. “Because it was one of the foulest-smelling places you’ve ever been to. It was this old boxing gym with a really mixed crowd of people and the worst stench. It made you just want to get in there, get the job done, and get out. That’s how I like it.”

Don’t know your bench press from your squat rack? Become a fitness know-it-all, and start exercising how you like it, with our top workout tips from the experts. You’ll be showing up PTs in no time.

7. Build on solid foundations

On top of all his bodyweight and Tabata workouts, Hemsworth had a secret weapon: foundation training.

The idea of foundation training is that, through stretching, you can increase your posterior muscle chain and decompress your spine. This wipes out muscle imbalances and fixes poor posture habits.

“I don’t care how strong an athlete you are,” Dr Eric Goodman says on his website, foundationtraining.com. “If you take the time to master Foundation Training and include it in your existing training program, your athletic ability, strength and poise will improve dramatically.”

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